It has often been recognized that real life examples help students to learn concepts more quickly and in a context to which they relate. This idea is at the heart of contextual teaching. Contextual teaching means that instead of providing examples while teaching concepts, a teacher uses the examples as a platform through which concepts are learned. In this assignment, you will develop a contextual activity or demonstration to teach a concept, using the 5-E model as the basis of your lesson planning.
Man Without A Stomach -Mrs. Palmer: This lesson introduces students to the digestive system through a video of a man who attempted suicide by swallowing bleach. Throughout the lesson, students are introduced to the structure and function of the the organs of the digestive system (including accessory organs), the mechanical and chemical digestion of organic compounds, and different disorders of the digestive system and their causes.
"For Future Generations"--Larissa Roy: This lesson is designed to introduce students to different reproductive strategies by looking at components of an ecosystem they will be building as part of their internship at Cretaceous Park (which is Jurassic Park under new management). As an introduction, students will be brought through a welcome speech by the director of the intern program (see powerpoint) and then encouraged to fill out the pre-service test (a worksheet, attached). Concepts covered will included the difference between asexual and sexual reproduction as well as the alternation of generations.
"Suit up for Selection" - Adam Bruinius: This lesson introduces students to the concept of natural selection and illustrates that it is not a random process. The activity involves the students shuffling all the cards in a particular suit in order to eventually get them in the correct order form ace to king. The process of getting cards in the correct order is performed in two different ways; half of the student pairs performing the activity one way and the other half performing it the other way. The final goal is to illustrate how natural selection is cumulative and non-random. Getting the cards in this order is analogous for the accumulation of minor changes that lead to new novel traits or new organisms.
"Fishbowl Homeostasis"- Cristy Langefeld: This lesson contains an in class activity that will help students connect parts of a fishbowl to parts of the human body that are involved in maintaining homeostasis. I will first show a short power point with some important vocabulary, then go to the board and ask the students to think of some important parts of a fish tank. I will ask them why each part is important, and then hand out the worksheet activity.
"Real Life Mutations" - Mike Strickley: This lesson contains a brief video clip and an online simulation paired with a worksheet to teach students the types of mutations that exist as well as the effects of each.
"Biodiversity" - Nic Roome This contains the outline and corresponding handouts needed for a lesson on the different levels and effects of biodiversity.
"Invasive Species in Illinois"-Brock Parrott- This lesson contains a brief video clip on Asian Carp and a research assignment. The video is used to capture the attention of the students and get them interested in invasive species. The students then do research on other invasive species in Illinois and participate in a discussion. The assignment will help the students realize the negative impact of invasive species.
"Killer Microbe" -Sammy Licocci This lesson introduces students to a new unit about disease. It contains my 5E model on how I will go about teaching it to students. I used a short video to spark students interest in the subject and went from there.
"Serengeti Connection" - Phil Dorjath This lesson introduces the students to an ecosystem they are likely not very familiar with. It then has them look to make connections between this ecosystem and the one they live in. It begins wtih a video and an article to provide background information. They will answer a series of questions which will eventually lead to a group project. This is a very suitable lesson after the basics of ecosystems have been taught.
"Prosperous Plants" - David Herbst. This lesson uses the 5E model to introduce and get students interested in plants. This lesson allows students to learn about the many types of plants we find in the real world. Algae is discussed in this lesson which is not typically categorized as a plant but helps students to understand further what a plant is and to break misconceptions about algae itself. Included in this lesson is a link to a brief 3 minute video and two handouts.
"Evolving hardware"-Dan DeWees: This lesson uses an array of common hardware such as screws and nails to help illustrate the concept of evolution. Students are presented with several "organism fossils" that need to be classified in the correct order. This lesson teaches students about constructing cladograms and illustrates how organisms evolve.
"Hereditary Disorders & Monohybrid/Dihybrid Crosses" -Taryn Williams. This lesson includes the 5E model used for students to learn about hereditary diseases, review heredity principles, and introduce punnett squares using monohybrid and dihybrid crosses. First, a video is shown about a family affected with Huntington's Disease for 3 consecutive generations. There is then a discussion for the students to make connections to the heredity principles they have already learned in a previous lesson. Following the discussion, the students will complete 2 worksheets. The first one is genetic practice problems including punnett squares using monohybrid crosses, which is done individually. They are then introduced how to do dihyrbid crosses and have to complete a dihybrid worksheet in pairs.
"Mitosis, Meiosis and the Wolperdinger" - Angela Vitale This lesson includes a 5 E model lesson plan, complete with a PowerPoint and two worksheets (one exploration, one elaboration) intended for the use of instruction on the topic of both Mitosis and Meiosis. Hand held manipulatives (chromosomes) should be made out of blue and pink construction paper in three different sizes (small, medium and large). Each student or group of students should have a set of pink chromosomes (one of each of the three sizes) and a set of blue chromosomes (one of each of the three sizes). The teacher should continuously check for understanding. The PowerPoint contains the picture of the Wolperdinger on the second slide. Slides 3-17 should be used after the activities have been completed in order for this lesson to be fully contextual and inquiry-based.
"Organizing Life" - Max Taylor This lesson gives students the ability to grasp the concept of taxonomy. This activity allows students to view how scientists classify organisms according to their relationships. Further, the students are able to organize and classify a set of organisms themselves, as well as identifying common ancestors among these organisms. Included is the lesson plan for the taxonomy unit, a video for background information, and the activity handout.
Behavior - Amanda Donnelly This lesson starts with a depiction of classical conditioning and asks students to match terms with parts of the video and then to come up with their own task to condition an animal to do. They use the terms they learned to come up with a plan for teaching a new behavior to a pet.
"Biome Bonanza" - Kevin Nichols: This lesson uses the 5E model to take what students have most likely already been exposed to and applying a new set of observations and relationships to it. The goal of this lesson is to get the students thinking about the qualities of the environments that they not only encounter in person but also the ones that they experience on television, in movies, or in other forms of media. The students will also be doing their own active research into the respective biomes and defending their conclusions about the biomes.
"Alien DNA Extraction" This lesson uses an excellent video produced by the BBC in reference to a freak occurrence in India. Through choice editing, this video helps to peak student curiosity into what actually constitutes life as we know it. The following activity, the DNA extraction of strawberries, is disguised as an alien sample acquired from a friend of friend of a friend. It's all in good humor. But the activity helps to bring an abstract concept of DNA into the concrete realm through visualization. This is meant to be an introductory activity.
Contextual Teaching Lessons:
Roy, Reproduction 5E Module
Tree Man Pt. 1
Tree Man Pt. 2
Mighty Mutation Maker Game
VIDEO- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLFe8xfgx24
Licocci 5E Model Lesson Plan.doc
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VIDEO- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/killer-microbe.htmlVenus Fly Trap
The Simpson-Homer evolution
"Mitosis, Meiosis and the Wolperdinger" - Angela Vitale This lesson includes a 5 E model lesson plan, complete with a PowerPoint and two worksheets (one exploration, one elaboration) intended for the use of instruction on the topic of both Mitosis and Meiosis. Hand held manipulatives (chromosomes) should be made out of blue and pink construction paper in three different sizes (small, medium and large). Each student or group of students should have a set of pink chromosomes (one of each of the three sizes) and a set of blue chromosomes (one of each of the three sizes). The teacher should continuously check for understanding. The PowerPoint contains the picture of the Wolperdinger on the second slide. Slides 3-17 should be used after the activities have been completed in order for this lesson to be fully contextual and inquiry-based.
"Organizing Life" - Max Taylor This lesson gives students the ability to grasp the concept of taxonomy. This activity allows students to view how scientists classify organisms according to their relationships. Further, the students are able to organize and classify a set of organisms themselves, as well as identifying common ancestors among these organisms. Included is the lesson plan for the taxonomy unit, a video for background information, and the activity handout.
Taxonomy Video
"Biome Bonanza" - Kevin Nichols: This lesson uses the 5E model to take what students have most likely already been exposed to and applying a new set of observations and relationships to it. The goal of this lesson is to get the students thinking about the qualities of the environments that they not only encounter in person but also the ones that they experience on television, in movies, or in other forms of media. The students will also be doing their own active research into the respective biomes and defending their conclusions about the biomes.